Some Wesley Chapel residents who suffer certain severe ischemic strokes may no longer need to be transferred to another hospital for clot-removal treatment.

AdventHealth Wesley Chapel unveiled a biplane neurointerventional suite Monday, Aug. 17, at its campus at 2600 Bruce B. Downs Blvd., giving physicians the ability to perform mechanical thrombectomy on-site for the first time. The procedure guides a thin catheter through a patient's blood vessels to reach and remove a clot blocking blood flow to the brain.

Until the suite opened, some Pasco County patients needing that level of intervention had to be transferred elsewhere, delaying treatment and taking them farther from their families, according to the Business Observer.

“Time is brain,” Dr. Jason Maljaar, medical director of neurology at AdventHealth Wesley Chapel, said in the hospital's announcement. “When blood flow to the brain is blocked, brain cells begin to die within minutes. Having the ability to provide advanced stroke intervention on our campus means patients can receive critical treatment faster, which can lead to better outcomes and improved recovery.”

The biplane design uses two rotating cameras instead of one, imaging the brain's blood vessels from multiple angles simultaneously and building a three-dimensional view that guides a catheter through arteries the width of a pencil lead, according to Wesley Chapel Community. AdventHealth says the setup also shortens procedure time.

Beyond stroke treatment, the suite will handle brain aneurysm repair through coil embolization, diagnostic cerebral angiograms and middle meningeal artery embolization for select patients with chronic subdural hematomas.

The hospital added specialized neurointerventional physicians alongside the new technology. Dr. Guilherme Agnoletto demonstrated the thrombectomy procedure at the Aug. 17 unveiling, which was open to clinicians, EMS crews and community leaders rather than the general public.

AdventHealth Wesley Chapel currently holds Primary Stroke Center designation. The biplane suite is a key step in the hospital's pursuit of Comprehensive Stroke Center designation, which is reserved for facilities equipped to handle the most complex stroke cases. The hospital has not announced a timeline for that designation or when the first procedures will be performed in the suite.

More than 80,000 Floridians were hospitalized because of stroke in 2023, according to the Florida Department of Health. Stroke remains a leading cause of death in Florida and the United States.